A carton for packaging ice cream or the like is normally made from a single carton blank. In the prior art, the blank generally comprises front, bottom, rear, and cover panels. The cover panel is usually provided with end flaps and a front closure flap which form a recloseable cover when erected. The other panels are also provided with end flaps that form a tight seal for the ends of the carton. The cover panel and the bottom panel are normally dimensioned the same, and so are the rear and front panels. The bottom panel end flaps are normally full end flaps, meaning that in the erected position, the end flaps cover the whole opening in each end of the carton. In the erected position, it will be noted that the inside dimension, looking at the end of the carton, is not a rectangle but rather in the shape of a trapezoid. The reason is that the cover panel closure flap overlaps the front panel in the erected position forcing the front panel inward by the width of the carton material, and in combination with the fact that the cover panel and the bottom panel are of the same width. The bottom panel end flaps are normally cut into a shape of a rectangle. Therefore, one can see that when the bottom panel end flap is folded into the end of the carton which is in the shape of a trapezoid, a perfect fit is not possible. This results in buckling of the front and rear panels when the rectangular bottom panel end flap is forced into the trapezoidal end opening of the carton. The resulting disfigurement of the carton provides less than perfect seal for the ends of the carton. It also presents a not too attractive package to the consumer.
However, there are other carton configurations where the end panels are substantially vertical with the bottom panel and forms a rectangular opening with the cover panel and the bottom panel end flap when folded in has a width dimension greater than the inside dimension between the end panels. These configurations also cause buckling.